REVIEW: Netflix's new thrilling mystery series 'Dark' will be your next binge-worthy obsession

Netflix is venturing into new territory with its thriller series "Dark." The mysterious family saga is set in a small German town. And yes, the whole show is subtitled for non-German speakers. "Dark" covers every thrilling trope from child abduction to government conspiracy to time travel. After reviewing the first three episodes (the first season is comprised of 10 hour-long episodes), we believe "Dark" is sure to become many people's next obsession.

The show focuses on the lives of people in Winden, a small town which sits near a large power plant. When children begin disappearing, it becomes clear that a historical pattern is repeating itself. The show cuts between 2019, 1986, and 1953 — dropping clues along the way that something supernatural (and terrifying) is at work.

The cinematography, score, and performances of the ensemble cast are engaging and well-crafted. The series opens with a violent suicide quickly followed by the revelation that two of the characters are having a secret affair, giving it a much more adult tone akin to the first season of HBO's "True Detective."

The bureaucracy of a small-town police department is central to the series. Stefan Erhard/Netflix

The opening credits (a montage of clips resembling a Rorschach inkblot test) became more mesmerizing with each viewing as the characters were explored more and more. The way the credits' visuals are split into halves and thirds cleverly ties into the splintered timelines of the show.

"Dark" shares a familiar narrative skeleton with "Stranger Things." A young boy mysteriously vanishes, sending the town into chaos. The government facility on the outskirts of town is seemingly linked to the disappearance. Plus, portions of the show take place in the 1980s.

Two of the characters who are adults in 2019, and teens in the 1989 flashbacks. Stefan Erhard/Netflix

But the young actors are all teenagers and any warm-fuzzy nostalgia "Stranger Things" invokes is lost in the more violent and horrifying universe of "Dark." This new series is much more likely to leave you with nightmares than "Stranger Things."

What's not: The subtitles and long character list might trip you up.

For non-German speakers, the rotating cast of children and adults (and the young versions of adult characters) might get confusing.

The show is entirely in German, though a poorly dubbed English version will play automatically for US audiences. We recommend switching it back to the regular German audio (but not the option of "German — audio description"), then turn on English captions.

By the third episode, when the 1986 timeline is shown in full for the first time, there were several characters that were clearly important but had been lost in the shuffle of names. Unfortunately the English captions don't list the name of the character speaking, so it might be even harder for US audiences to track the cast.

The bottom-line: "Dark" is worth being your next binge.

If you like creepy crime/thriller shows, "Dark" is definitely worth exploring. It's the type of series that — if released weekly on a network like HBO — would likely spawn long discussions about theories and clues leading up to (what we assume will be) a mind-bending reveal.

Grade: B

"Dark" is streaming now on Netflix. Watch the full trailer below:

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